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Here’s the last part of my less-than-two-week short story project called, “Laura’s Closet”. I do wish I had spent a bit more time on it, but it served its purpose, which was to let go and just write. It was inspired by a conversation me and two of my good friends had during my vacation back home in Vancouver. As always, I hope it inspires you in some way! Do not be afraid to just write and let go.

I’m working on another short story called, “Jehmers Donsriell’s Bequest”. I’m working on it more than “Laura’s Closet,” because it is a story I started a long time ago and never finished. I feel very good about it, which is why I want to spend a good time crafting it. There is no date when I’ll post it, because I’m not done, yet. Below is an excerpt I posted a while ago. After that, you can find all the parts of “Laura’s Closet”. Enjoy!

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Jehmers Donsriell’s bequest

She felt its sharp teeth crumbling her skin, but not a tear was shed. She was paralyzed, but she could still feel the harrowing pain, slowly rising inside her body. It absorbed any energy that she had left, and she felt hopeless. She clung to the wooden floor with her black long nails, as a last attempt to escape, scratching her way out of her own despair. It wasn’t long before her hair decayed, and her teeth began to dust from the rusty toxic wind that blew on her face. Her lungs began to collapse, as she tried to escape her imminent downfall. At last, she caught what would be, her final breath. The only thought in her mind, was regret…

Despite her efforts, Elena didn’t strip her off her power. Instead, she gave her a second one, the power of premonition.

Although relieved to have the power of seeing what she had been searching, it didn’t feel real. She thought her rant to Elena was brutal enough to leave her powerless and without answers. Even though, she was speechless, she nodded and smile with gratitude. Then, Elena blinked and left, and Laura found herself in her bed, awakening early morning on the following day. “Was it all a dream?” She thought.

She sat on her bed for a few minutes, palpitating, touching everything around her, waiting for something to happen. Her eyes were sore as if she hadn’t slept for days, and a cold sweat spread throughout her body. She placed her hand on her forehead and lied back down again. By the time she got up again, a couple of hours had passed. She felt much better and didn’t want to waste more time. She quickly got ready and left to find Alliese and Sonia.

Before she left her building, she noticed it was pouring rain, but she had an umbrella ready. She experienced some déjà vu, but her suspicious were not confirmed, until she saw her neighbour approach. “This is a lot of rain. I should go back for an umbrella. Why is it that no one can predict such weather?” He said. She struggled to say something back, still in shock at the realization that she went back to the past. Or, did she? Could this have been the “truth” Elena was talking about?

She knew what was supposed to happen next; her meeting with Alliese and Sonia, to tell them about Mother Nature (now Elena). She stayed in the building’s lobby, and tried to contact them. But, something wasn’t right. She couldn’t find their numbers. She restarted her phone as an attempt to recover their numbers – she figured her cell phone had just crashed. However, all of her attempts had failed. She remembered she had the numbers written by her home phone. So, she went back upstairs to check –she knew their phone numbers, but for some reason she couldn’t remember.

She went inside her apartment, and noticed she didn’t have the numbers written anymore. “Something is definitely wrong here,” she said. She pinched herself a few times, just in case she was just dreaming. Everything seemed to be in order; except for the fact Alliese and Sonia were nowhere to be found. She felt lightheaded and slowly sat down on the couch, feeling like someone just tied a knot inside her throat. She took a few deep breaths; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. She paused, noticing her laptop was on with an opened document. She took careful steps towards it, and came to a full stop once she was close enough to read what it said. Her widened eyes glanced at the screen, and her breathing increased heavily.

Her whole life appeared to have been typed. Alliese and Sonia were not her friends; they were two personalities of Laura that she created in her mind, to cope with the fact she did die at the hands of the killer she ran from in the woods. Suddenly, she was transported back to the woods, at the same spot where she met Elena for the first time. Elena could not explain the circumstances, because Laura still had something to learn. But, she talked about Alliese and Sonia as being two of Laura’s biggest worries within herself. They became alive to her, because they were parts of Laura that needed to find their own resolution. Laura’s reaction was as expected; she froze solid where she stood, and it took her a while to let go of the denial. She was trying to retrace her steps, and kept track on what happened before and how it all fitted together, but she had to grasp the idea of not being part of the world anymore. She retreated into the woods, and asked Elena to let her cope with her new destiny on her own. She was defeated by her own fears in life, but she was going to figure out how not to let them win her over in death. Even though, it was not under the best circumstance, Laura started listened to her soul for the first time.

Elena was going to let her discover a new world for herself, and for now, she wasn’t going to tell her that she was not dead.

Afterwards, they called it a night. Alliese and Sonia slept in, but Laura was awake first thing in the morning; she didn’t sleep well. The commotion of it all became a reality to her, and she put her mind into making good use of her new gift. The idea was to have the blog up by the beginning of the following week. “It could be done,” she thought. She figured they would use one of Alliese’s past web design templates.

“Monday: 5-10mm of rain, 12 C

Tuesday: Sunny, 17 C

Wednesday: Cloudy, 10 C

Thursday: Heavy rainfall warning, 11 C

Friday: Sunny, 15 C”

She verified her predictions in her head, and didn’t realize Alliese and Sonia were awake. Alliese thought of scaring her – as usual- but Sonia suggested they didn’t; it was time to get serious and work on their project. But, Alliese didn’t have her USB drive with her, so she had to return to her place to grab it. Meanwhile, Sonia helped Laura with the editing and fashion ideas. They went back and forth on whether they should do men’s outfits, as well. They eventually agreed to wait for the respond.

The outfit for Monday was picked; light grey boots, black tight jeans, a dark red long sleeve v-neck top, a purple raincoat, and grey umbrella. Of course, they had to wait for Alliese to come back, to give her input on all the decisions. She took a bit longer than usual, but they didn’t think anything was wrong. Alliese was taking longer than usual, but only because she stopped by her favourite coffee shop. She knew the manager and asked if they could post an ad for their upcoming blog – obviously, she didn’t go into detail. She agreed and told her to bring it to her anytime during the week. She went back to Laura’s place and told her the good news. Laura and Sonia shared the ideas they came up with, to which Alliese approved.

The ad was placed, and the blog was up. The first week went by, then the second, and before they knew it, it was the end of the month. They had finished it with fantastic hits and a chance to have an interview with their local news. Laura was a bit overwhelmed by all; throughout the month she had been feeling dread, sorrow, happiness, all at the same time. But, Alliese and Sonia assured her it was going to be okay. Laura wasn’t too sure, though. She thought she’d have her inner feelings sorted out already, but she still felt the same emptiness. What was she going to do?

“You can’t shut down the blog, Laura! We just started it!” Alliese yelled.

“Look, we have an interview. Let’s do it, and then we’ll see how you feel about it,” Sonia suggested.

“I don’t know. We may have gone a bit too far. I mean, it’s great we’re helping other women out there, but this was supposed to help me battle my own inner war.” Laura said.

Sonia asked what if Laura was to give them her predictions for the following week, and they would do all the work for her. All she would have to do was sit and relax. Alliese wasn’t sure of it, but then she saw Laura’s expression, as if she were considering it. “One week. If I can’t sort this out, we’re shutting down.” Laura firmly said.

Alliese and Sonia agreed to work on the blog at Alliese’s place. But, unbeknown to Laura, they decided to organize a fashion show downtown. “Don’t give me that look. When Laura sees all the support, she’ll come out of it. I’m sure.” Alliese told Sonia. Even though Sonia didn’t feel right about it, she still went along. “Alliese just wants what’s best for her, right?” She thought to herself.

Laura had been home for a week now, feeling discontent. She wrote, read, cooked, and tried to keep busy. She did everything she could to try to find the answer she long hoped for. She paced around until her feet became sore. “Maybe a bath will help,” she said. She went into her room to grab her things, but she saw a bright figure standing by the window. “My dear, what’s happening?” Elena said. Laura was shocked to see Elena. “Why did you abandon me?” She asked. Elena smiled and said, “I haven’t. I just wanted you to find out the truth by yourself”.

Laura could not have possibly known what ‘truth’ she was referring to. Why couldn’t she simply tell her why she gave her the gift, why she let her start the blog, why she felt this way? Of course, she was not God, but she certainly knew what was happening, and the boulder she carried on her back the whole month. “I’m done with this weather power. I haven’t done anything with it. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it, anyway. Take it!” She said using a bitter tone.

Just a little background about this story. I was inspired by a conversation with 2 of my friends, during my vacation in Vancouver :). I started writing it last week. I’m giving the readers a bit of time before I post the other parts, so you can all catch up!

If you haven’t read the first 2 parts of this short story (both links open in a new window), here they are:

Laura’s attempts to contact her friends were disappointing; all her calls went straight to voicemail. She tried to desperately write everything she had gone through, just in case her memories started to fade. “Hello, Mother Nature? Are you there? Can you hear me? Please, come!” She shouted.

For all she knew, everything could have been a dream. She sat on her bed and talked to herself. “Ok, maybe it WAS a dream. It really happened, but it happened in a dream. Alright, I’m not making any sense”. She started pacing around the room, coming up with explanations in her mind – none of them led to anything. “If I sleep, I might see her. But, she has control over the weather, so if I go outside and shout her name, she might come? No wait, people will think I’m insane. I don’t know what to do!” she whined.

But, she took a nap anyway, to try and make contact with Mother Nature. She was the type of person who didn’t like to feel useless. She had to keep occupied. She awoke a couple of hours later, feeling restless and still without answers. However, she saw she had two voicemails, from Alliese and Sonia. “Finally, now we’re getting somewhere,” she positively thought.

She invited them over to her place for tea. She made sure to get her box filled with a variety of organic teas, and a box of ladyfingers. At the last minute, she quickly grabbed a bottle of red wine, she had been saving for extraordinary occasions – this was it. After all, she wasn’t sure of how they were going to react to her situation. It was black or white to her; either they understood and supported, or they supported and had her committed to an institution.

She heard the intercom and let them in. Alliese and Sonia were very happy to see her, but Laura couldn’t hide her confusion under the fake smile she forced herself to make.

“Ok, what’s wrong?” Asked Sonia.

“Nothing.” Laura responded.

Alliese knew her better than to go back and forth with Laura, trying to get the scoop of whatever she was hiding. She went straight to the table and opened the bottle of wine, poured three glasses, gently grabbed Laura’s arm and led her to the sofa. “Okay, spill, spill it all, spill the beans, the cookies, spill it all except for the wine” Alliese told her. Laura let out a chuckle, and she knew she had to tell them. “Alright, but hold on to that wine glass,” she comfortably sat on the sofa.

“Wait, how come when it was ME who asked if something was wrong, you didn’t say anything?” Sonia asked.

“That’s because I opened the wine. Everyone knows wine is a secret spiller,” Alliese said.

“Fair enough, but I’m still upset,” Sonia added.

“You won’t be after I tell you what happened,” Laura interrupted.

She proceeded to tell them about her hike and her encounter with Mother Nature. “There! Now say it, I’m crazy, right?” Laura took three sips of wine and waited for a reaction. She did not get any reactions for a bit. Instead, she saw their owl-like eyes fixated upon her, for a good five minutes. It seemed like they were in some sort of trance, but she figured it was the wine that added the extra effect.

“Well…?” She asked them.

“You are right. We need to send you to a mental institution,” Alliese said.

“Sadly, I agree,” Sonia added.

Even though, part of her thought this would happen, Laura wasn’t expecting it to be so sudden and cold. Alliese and Sonia stood at the same time; Sonia went to the kitchen, and Alliese grabbed her cell phone. Seeing this, Laura was getting agitated. She thought it wasn’t fair that, they didn’t even try to process it. They just stared at her for five minutes. “Maybe you need time to process it. I know this is all very weird!” She yelled at Alliese, who seemed to be on hold on the phone. But, before she could respond to Laura, she began talking to someone on the other line. “Yes, I’d like a large with spicy sausage, pepperoni and green peppers…”

Laura was confused, why was Alliese ordering pizza? This whole time she thought she was calling all the mental institutions, to see which one would take her, as soon as possible. Alliese hung up, but before she could speak, Sonia reappeared with plates and napkins.

“Do you think we would? Oh my goodness, Sonia, are you hearing this? I knew she would think, we’d have her committed!” Alliese laughed.

“But, you said…” Laura paused.

“Yes, but I was joking. Well, we were joking. I can’t believe you actually fell for it, ha ha. I was just trying to ease the tension you seemed to be having,” she laughed.

Laura didn’t feel like being part of a joke, but she admitted to herself that it was a good one. These were her best friends, why would she think they would send her away so quickly? She was relieved that she wasn’t going anywhere. Even if they ended up thinking she was insane, at least she had more time to convince them otherwise -Or to convince herself she wasn’t crazy. There was still a chance she was.

Once the pizza arrived, they brainstormed ideas on how to use this new “power”. A lot of questions poured over their table. “Have you thought of creating your own weather channel?” Sonia suggested. They thought about it for a few minutes, but Laura mentioned what Mother Nature told her, that it was to find the answers to her deepest sorrows. She didn’t think her own weather channel would calm all the turmoil in her soul-whatever turmoil that was, she was still unsure of what it was.

Alliese suddenly had a thought in mind, “You know what we need to do? We need to come up with a name for Mother Nature. Calling her Mother Nature is just too tiring,” she said. Laura and Sonia cried with laughter, but stopped at the realization that she had a good idea. She thought it would be a good way to make her seem a bit more human to them, and make her visit seem a bit less chaotic.

“How does Melissa sound?” Laura said.

“Too common,” Sonia answered.

“That’s the whole point, isn’t it?” Laura asked.

After a list filled with a hundred names, they finally agreed that Mother Nature’s nickname would be, Elena. The three friends seemed happy about it, and went back to brainstorming. Laura thought about the weather and how in the morning, she seemed to have picked the right outfit without thinking. Suddenly, an idea popped in her mind. “So, how about a blog?” she asked. They paused for a couple of minutes, looking at each other back and forth. It looked like they were getting somewhere.

A blog just about the weather sounded too simple, and they wanted to take it one step further. “Not just a weather blog, but about fashion!” Laura said. But, she wouldn’t let her friends respond. Instead, she shouted ideas out loud, that caught their attention. “We’re not just going to talk about the weather. We will simply suggest fashion trends for daily wear, based on weather prediction. In fact, we shouldn’t even talk about the weather. We’ll just write about outfits people should wear each day, that will be accurately appropriate for the day’s weather,” Laura explained.

And so, the idea started to become a reality in their minds. Alliese was going to help with the web design, Sonia was going to help with the editing, Laura was going to predict the weather, and they were all going to come up with fashion ideas. All they needed is a name for the blog. They decided on using Laura’s name, because “Elena” did mention this was to be a learning experience for her. And so they came up with the name, “Laura’s Closet”.

She felt the woman’s presence behind her, but refused to turn around. Instead, while lying on the ground, she put her hands together, and placed her chin on top. She took deep breaths and asked questions,

“Who are you? What do you want?” She asked.

“I’m not here to hurt you. I understand my introduction wasn’t the best…” But before Mother Nature could finish, Laura interrupted.

“You think? What else did you want me to think, whoever you are? To welcome, what felt like my imminent death, with open arms?” She yelled.

She had two options; one was to stay on the ground – probably forever- or oblige and turn and find out what she wanted, and who she was. She chose the latter. She slowly stood up, still with her back facing the woman.

“Do you promise not to kill me if I turn? I mean, if you do intend to kill me, at least explain what the reason is,” she told her.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” she calmly tried to ease the situation.

“Okay, here it goes. Ok, I’m ready. I’m going to slowly turn around,” she thought, trying to reassure it was safe to do so.

She turned around and was face to face with this woman, except, she couldn’t see her.

“Are you serious? After everything you put me through, I can’t even see you?” she angrily said.

“You can still hear and feel me. I’m everywhere. In the trees, on the grounds, in the birds’ songs,” she explained.

“God?” she questioned.

“No, my gifts are not that great. I’m Mother Nature, dear.” She affirmed.

The initially shock made her question whether or not, she in fact died at the hands of a murderer, and now was hallucinating, on her way to the afterlife.

“I’m definitely dead. I’m hearing ‘beings’ that are not there. How long have I been…well…deceased?” She asked Mother Nature.

At this point, Laura started to find the situation a bit amusing – probably, because she was in shock.

“At least it was quick. I mean, clearly I didn’t feel any pain, just fear. Oh this is great!” She started to laugh.

Mother Nature knew she wasn’t going to get to her anytime soon, but she tried anyhow.

“Dearest Laura, I know this is not easy to believe. I don’t know how long I can try to convince you, that you are NOT dead.”

Instead of going in circles, trying to help Laura understand the reality of what happened, Mother Nature appeared to her in human form. She was wearing a grey top with khaki-coloured pants, and black boots. She figured she would dress the same way Laura would, and not as a stereotypical supernatural angelic being, that wears white and carries a yellow aura.

Mother Nature was right; Laura seemed to have come out of the shock. At least enough to make her listen to what she was about to say. Once she was sure Laura was well enough to pay attention, she said to her:

“I’m about to grant you with a great opportunity. You’ve been searching for an answer to your deep sorrows, and now it’s time for you to search for what you mostly desire”.

Laura was attentive; already coming up with all the possibilities she could be given. Maybe it was a new wardrobe, or a new job. But before she could say anything out loud, Mother Nature raised her left hand.

“I’m not going to give you my power, but I’m going to give you the ability to accurately predict the weather,” she said as a bright light beam was released from the palm of her hand.

“How is that going to help me?” Laura asked.

She did not get an answer. Instead, she collapsed to the ground, and awoke the following day in her apartment.

She clearly remembered her encounter with Mother Nature. Even though, she was a bit skeptic, she still found energy to get up and go to work. Surprisingly, it didn’t take her long to decide what to wear; it’s as if she knew without thinking. She grabbed her umbrella on her way out, and walked out. But, as soon as she stepped outside of the building, heavy rain started to fall. One of her neighbours appeared behind her.

“This is a lot of rain. I should go back for an umbrella. Why is it that no one can predict such weather?” He said.

Laura paused for a moment.

“I know, right? Perhaps, we need Mother Nature to run the weather channels for us,” she laughed.

“Ha! I wish we had such luck. Well, at least you’re wearing the proper outfit. Have a nice a day!” He said as he went back inside the building.

She thought it was too much of a coincidence that she just happened to wear the proper outfit, without reading the weather, as she usually would do. She decided to believe what happened with Mother Nature was true, but was still unsure of the significance of it all. How this new ‘power’ was going to help her fix her inner troubles was beyond her. So, she decided to call in sick, and arrange a meeting with Alliese and Sonia. She had to figure this out somehow, even if it meant telling her best friends what happened. After all, Mother Nature never said she couldn’t tell them.

There is one treasure I have, love. I took this photo years ago. I love when clouds make this awesome shapes! But this summarizes everything. It is a heart, and to us, heart is a symbol of love.

There aren’t many people who are lucky enough to be loved. We must be grateful that not only we are loved, but that we have the ability TO love. Even when there are times when you feel you can’t love (i.e. heartbreak), others will be there to show you that you are loved. Love can blind you from seeing it, but only love can regain your eyesight. In the end, love can hurt, but only love can heal.

Love comes in different forms. You can love through Faith (if used correctly), family, friends, pets, and even objects. I love my stuffed animals, but obviously not on the same level as I love my family. But, it’s still love. Love is a gift for your comfort. When you really love someone or something, you enter into a dimension where you cannot hurt. That is not to say you cannot GET hurt, but it prevents YOU from hurting someone.

Love should be simple, we should just love one another. But, in the real world, it is complicated. Perhaps, we can try to make it simple. You love, I love, we live happily ever after. Like this turtle…

She was not worried. The day was pleasant. She sat on the edge of the grassy hill, stroking her wavy black hair, using her fingers. Her hairbrush was lost on the way up the hill. Usually, she doesn’t condone such rough ways of brushing her hair, but her desperation of maintaining it called for it. Not many things were left in her backpack. After all, the hill was a route she did not expect to take.

Her plan was to run through the forest in search for wild fruit. But an unusual mint-coloured leaf caught her attention, and she followed it, as it was blown by the wind. It was after a good ten minute run, when the leaf came to a full stop. She picked it up and noticed a ray of sunshine poking both of her eyes. Curiosity got the best of her, and she walked and then ran, until she reach the top of the hill. The hill was not too high, but enough to create an in-depth view of the fields surrounding it. She was worried of her return home, but she figured it would be easy to follow back.

As she gazed upon the fields, she felt a small shutter, then a noise approaching. It got loud enough for her to tell it was a train. It was coming from the right side, and she looked as it approached. To her amazement, it was not a passenger train, but a cargo train. She almost did not pay attention, because she thought it was an ordinary train, bringing goods into town, as usual. But, she saw in the wagons an abundance of mint-coloured leafs, just like the one she picked up. For a moment, she thought it’d be good to drop the leaf she caught into the wagons, but she decided to keep it. She felt special, like the wind brought her to that spot for a purpose. She witnessed such rarity, that all the worries in her life escaped from her.

The train was far away by now, but she could not stop staring at it, as it ventured off to an unknown destination. She crossed her legs and placed her backpack on her lap. She was thinking of a safe place to keep this new leaf, so she put it inside the small front pocket. Now, it was time for her to find her way back. She stood up and put on her backpack. Just as she was about to walk down the hill, the wind started to pick up. She looked up and there was only a cloud in sight. It almost looked like it was shaped in the form of a heart. She didn’t think much of it, so she kept walking down the hill, and looked up one more time. It was in the shape of a heart. She smiled and changed her route again. She felt the wind was about to embark her on a new adventure.